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It's likely Levandowski has narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), as is evident by his founding The Way of The Future, which is his own church to worship art

It's likely Levandowski has narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), as is evident by his founding The Way of The Future, which is his own church to worship artificial intelligence.

trsohmers 6y ago
Which I have to believe is a joke based on the end of "The Aviator"... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Pbx9mvWPY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Pbx9mvWPY
jonas21 6y ago
More like The Way of Shielding Assets From Creditors
- bduerst 6y ago
  Maybe. I took the liberty to look up their 990 form [1] and it looks like it's an empty non-profit (no assets or activity). Interestingly enough, Lior Ron (Otto co-founder) was appointed CEO of the church. 1 - https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/814/814753507/814753507_201612_990PF.pdf https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/814/8147...
momokoko 6y ago
You cannot seriously believe “narcissistic personality disorder” is a real thing, right? This has to be the most “it came from social media” I’ve read on HN in a while. Every personality trait you don’t like or is difficult to deal with is not a “disorder”
- awnird 6y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_dis... It’s been recognized as a “real thing” for decades.
- rorykoehler 6y ago
  The narcissistic personality was first described by the psychoanalyst Robert Waelder, in 1925; furthermore, the term narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) was coined by Heinz Kohut in 1968. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disor...
- steve_adams_86 6y ago
  You should do some reading about it. I don't mean that like "go educate yourself", more like you might be surprised how fascinating is. I thought for as long as I can remember that it was a term excusing people being awful. Labels for everything. After reading some books about it I was left feeling... A lot of things. It's a little unnerving, extremely nuanced, complicated, and fascinating. I've come to see it more as a description for a mode of being that's actually very important to understand to some extent and to figure into how you understand the world. A label like NPD does it no justice, like any other label for the way a human might behave. I highly recommend giving the idea a chance and thinking about how it might fit into your life. I think it's important not to sensationalize it. In fact, it's probably far more typical and mundane in most instances. I've come to believe it's widespread but generally only acknowledged or recognized in extreme cases. A typical case of the topology only revealing the mountains from among the rolling hills.
- itronitron 6y ago
  Actually, one could make the point that social media came from NPD.
- JohnBooty 6y ago
  Whenever I see this sort of reaction, I suspect the person making it lacks understanding of what a "disorder" is. A disorder is not an excuse for one's behavior. A disorder just means, hey, there's something here that's out of the normal. A recognition of something that people struggle with. Does Levandowski have some kind of disorder? I really have no opinion; I haven't followed this case and refrain from amateur diagnoses in general. But it is not normal to steal hundreds of millions of dollars (or hundreds of millions of dollars worth of things) and if a person has a longstanding pattern of shitty behavior then yeah, there's something going on there that's worth figuring out.
CaptainZapp 6y ago
In all seriousness: You shouldn't remote diagnose mental illnesses for anybody. It's totally frowned upon by psychiatrists and psychologists, who are experts in the field, because it's actually impossible and can do a lot of damage. This has nothing to do with Levandowski not being a full blown greedy asshole and now a criminal too. But the problem is really that doing that can potentially hurt people with mental issues.
- krn 6y ago
  > In all seriousness: You shouldn't remote diagnose mental illnesses for anybody. As a counterargument: I am extremely annoyed by the people who publicly criticize the personal traits of others without even considering that they might be affected by a mental disorder.
  - JohnBooty 6y ago
    Those two things aren't necessarily in opposition. For example we can choose to have sympathy and empathy for Kanye West during his public struggles. (Or not. I'm not telling anybody what to do. I don't have strong feelings about the guy myself.) We can recognize that yes, clearly, the man is struggling with something. We can also simultaneously refrain from hamfistedly trying to figure out what, specifically, he's struggling with.
    - bilbo0s 6y ago
      So in your view noting that someone has some issues that they need help with is not the same as remote diagnosis?
      - JohnBooty 6y ago
        In your view, are those merely different degrees of the same thing? I mean, yeah, I guess. I suppose "that guy is struggling" is something of a diagnosis in and of itself. For me, the clear differentiator is that "that guy is struggling" is a "diagnosis" I think just about anybody would be qualified to make. We have all struggled. And people generally don't go on Twitter posting sprees of alternating jumbled, grandiose, and vaguely worrisome thoughts when they're doing well. Nor do they make tearful public appearances, etc. And his wife confirms he's struggling. So assuming he's not putting on an elaborate ruse - I think your average layperson is qualified to say he's struggling. Being more specific than that would require a level of training and direct contact with him that, obviously, a layperson doesn't have. And mental diagnoses are rather uh, fuzzy even when handed out by qualified professionals under ideal circumstances. It's like the difference between me saying, "my car won't start" (a thing I'm qualified to say!) and "the fuel injector controller is faulty; Honda screwed up the design and Nissan's version of the same thing is much more robust." (a thing I just made up, and am not remotely qualified to say)
dang 6y ago
Please don't do Internet Psychiatric Diagnosis (IPD) on HN. https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%22internet%20psychiatric%20diagnosis%22&sort=byDate&type=comment&dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%22internet%20psychiatric%20di...

It's likely Levandowski has narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), as is evident by his founding The Way of The Future, which is his own church to worship artificial intelligence.

trsohmers 6y ago

Which I have to believe is a joke based on the end of "The Aviator"... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Pbx9mvWPY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Pbx9mvWPY

jonas21 6y ago

More like The Way of Shielding Assets From Creditors

bduerst 6y ago
Maybe. I took the liberty to look up their 990 form [1] and it looks like it's an empty non-profit (no assets or activity). Interestingly enough, Lior Ron (Otto co-founder) was appointed CEO of the church. 1 - https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/814/814753507/814753507_201612_990PF.pdf https://990s.foundationcenter.org/990pf_pdf_archive/814/8147...

momokoko 6y ago

You cannot seriously believe “narcissistic personality disorder” is a real thing, right? This has to be the most “it came from social media” I’ve read on HN in a while. Every personality trait you don’t like or is difficult to deal with is not a “disorder”

awnird 6y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_dis... It’s been recognized as a “real thing” for decades.
rorykoehler 6y ago
The narcissistic personality was first described by the psychoanalyst Robert Waelder, in 1925; furthermore, the term narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) was coined by Heinz Kohut in 1968. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disor...
steve_adams_86 6y ago
You should do some reading about it. I don't mean that like "go educate yourself", more like you might be surprised how fascinating is. I thought for as long as I can remember that it was a term excusing people being awful. Labels for everything. After reading some books about it I was left feeling... A lot of things. It's a little unnerving, extremely nuanced, complicated, and fascinating. I've come to see it more as a description for a mode of being that's actually very important to understand to some extent and to figure into how you understand the world. A label like NPD does it no justice, like any other label for the way a human might behave. I highly recommend giving the idea a chance and thinking about how it might fit into your life. I think it's important not to sensationalize it. In fact, it's probably far more typical and mundane in most instances. I've come to believe it's widespread but generally only acknowledged or recognized in extreme cases. A typical case of the topology only revealing the mountains from among the rolling hills.
itronitron 6y ago
Actually, one could make the point that social media came from NPD.
JohnBooty 6y ago
Whenever I see this sort of reaction, I suspect the person making it lacks understanding of what a "disorder" is. A disorder is not an excuse for one's behavior. A disorder just means, hey, there's something here that's out of the normal. A recognition of something that people struggle with. Does Levandowski have some kind of disorder? I really have no opinion; I haven't followed this case and refrain from amateur diagnoses in general. But it is not normal to steal hundreds of millions of dollars (or hundreds of millions of dollars worth of things) and if a person has a longstanding pattern of shitty behavior then yeah, there's something going on there that's worth figuring out.

CaptainZapp 6y ago

In all seriousness: You shouldn't remote diagnose mental illnesses for anybody. It's totally frowned upon by psychiatrists and psychologists, who are experts in the field, because it's actually impossible and can do a lot of damage. This has nothing to do with Levandowski not being a full blown greedy asshole and now a criminal too. But the problem is really that doing that can potentially hurt people with mental issues.

krn 6y ago
> In all seriousness: You shouldn't remote diagnose mental illnesses for anybody. As a counterargument: I am extremely annoyed by the people who publicly criticize the personal traits of others without even considering that they might be affected by a mental disorder.
- JohnBooty 6y ago
  Those two things aren't necessarily in opposition. For example we can choose to have sympathy and empathy for Kanye West during his public struggles. (Or not. I'm not telling anybody what to do. I don't have strong feelings about the guy myself.) We can recognize that yes, clearly, the man is struggling with something. We can also simultaneously refrain from hamfistedly trying to figure out what, specifically, he's struggling with.
  - bilbo0s 6y ago
    So in your view noting that someone has some issues that they need help with is not the same as remote diagnosis?
    - JohnBooty 6y ago
      In your view, are those merely different degrees of the same thing? I mean, yeah, I guess. I suppose "that guy is struggling" is something of a diagnosis in and of itself. For me, the clear differentiator is that "that guy is struggling" is a "diagnosis" I think just about anybody would be qualified to make. We have all struggled. And people generally don't go on Twitter posting sprees of alternating jumbled, grandiose, and vaguely worrisome thoughts when they're doing well. Nor do they make tearful public appearances, etc. And his wife confirms he's struggling. So assuming he's not putting on an elaborate ruse - I think your average layperson is qualified to say he's struggling. Being more specific than that would require a level of training and direct contact with him that, obviously, a layperson doesn't have. And mental diagnoses are rather uh, fuzzy even when handed out by qualified professionals under ideal circumstances. It's like the difference between me saying, "my car won't start" (a thing I'm qualified to say!) and "the fuel injector controller is faulty; Honda screwed up the design and Nissan's version of the same thing is much more robust." (a thing I just made up, and am not remotely qualified to say)

dang 6y ago

Please don't do Internet Psychiatric Diagnosis (IPD) on HN. https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%22internet%20psychiatric%20diagnosis%22&sort=byDate&type=comment&dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%22internet%20psychiatric%20di...